The world's biggest climate meeting opens on Monday in Antalya, Türkiye, as nearly 200 countries gather for COP31, the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference. The talks will run from 9 to 20 November at the city's Expo Center, and the first week will be dominated by a World Leaders' Summit on 11 and 12 November, when heads of state and government will set the political tone for the negotiations that follow.
More than 80 world leaders are expected in Antalya, along with nearly 300 ministers and tens of thousands of delegates, scientists, business leaders and activists. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and UN Secretary-General António Guterres will open the leaders' summit, which is titled "Towards a Sustainable, Resilient and Equitable Future." Among the leaders expected are Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who arrives on 10 November, and British Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
This year's conference is unusual in how it is run. Türkiye holds the COP31 presidency and is in charge of the venue and the Action Agenda of voluntary pledges, while Australia leads the formal negotiations — an arrangement agreed after both countries bid to host. Environment Minister Murat Kurum, the COP31 president, has framed Türkiye's approach around three words: "dialogue, consensus, action."
Implementation, not new promises
Unlike some past summits, COP31 is not expected to produce a landmark new treaty. Instead, the focus will be on delivery: turning promises that countries have already made into real progress on cutting emissions, raising climate finance and helping vulnerable communities cope with extreme weather.
Singapore's environment minister, Grace Fu, summed up the mood before the talks, saying the conference was unlikely to yield new targets on curbing greenhouse gases, but that negotiators had plenty to do to implement measures already agreed.
One of the host's headline goals is electrification. Türkiye wants countries to back a voluntary aim of electrifying more than a third of the global economy by 2035, up from around a fifth today — covering everything from transport and heating to industry. Negotiators will also debate climate finance, adaptation, and the second Global Stocktake, the formal review of collective progress under the Paris Agreement, which begins at COP31 and will conclude at COP33 in 2028.
The conference programme is organised around themed days, starting with food, agriculture and health on 9 November, followed by energy and transport on 10 November. Talks take place in the Blue Zone for accredited negotiators, while the Green Zone will showcase climate solutions, innovation and public events.
A difficult backdrop
COP31 opens in a far harder political climate than recent summits. It is the first COP since the United States' withdrawal from the Paris Agreement took effect in January 2026, leaving the world's largest historical emitter outside the talks for a second year running. Developing countries are pressing Europe and others to fill the gap in climate finance.
The talks also open against a tense energy backdrop. The United States' recent strikes on Iran have left nations scrambling for oil cargoes and firing up coal plants, while the rapid growth of artificial intelligence is pushing power demand sharply higher. Read our earlier report on the regional tensions here: US Launches New Strikes on Iran's Qeshm Island as Trump Calls Them "Minor"
Turkey's own record will also be under scrutiny. Coal was the country's largest source of electricity last year, generating 34 percent of its power, making it Europe's biggest coal-fired electricity generator. Villagers living beside lignite mines in the country's southwest have called on leaders to see the damage caused by coal extraction for themselves. Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar has said Türkiye is working on a just transition, but that it is difficult because the mines employ thousands of people.
Why this week matters
The leaders' summit on 11 and 12 November will be the moment to watch. National statements there will show whether governments are willing to raise their ambitions — or whether COP31 becomes a summit remembered mainly for process. With record-breaking temperatures already bringing floods, heatwaves and droughts to every continent, the gap between what countries have promised and what they are doing remains the central question in Antalya.
For the full picture of the summit's agenda, see Reuters' coverage: COP31 to open in Turkey, with climate goals under pressure from war and AI
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